第49章

How have I fear'd your fate! but fear'd it most, When love assail'd you, on the Libyan coast."To this, the filial duty thus replies:

"Your sacred ghost before my sleeping eyes Appear'd, and often urg'd this painful enterprise.

After long tossing on the Tyrrhene sea, My navy rides at anchor in the bay.

But reach your hand, O parent shade, nor shun The dear embraces of your longing son!"He said; and falling tears his face bedew:

Then thrice around his neck his arms he threw;And thrice the flitting shadow slipp'd away, Like winds, or empty dreams that fly the day.

Now, in a secret vale, the Trojan sees A sep'rate grove, thro' which a gentle breeze Plays with a passing breath, and whispers thro' the trees;And, just before the confines of the wood, The gliding Lethe leads her silent flood.

About the boughs an airy nation flew, Thick as the humming bees, that hunt the golden dew;In summer's heat on tops of lilies feed, And creep within their bells, to suck the balmy seed:

The winged army roams the fields around;

The rivers and the rocks remurmur to the sound.

Aeneas wond'ring stood, then ask'd the cause Which to the stream the crowding people draws.

Then thus the sire: "The souls that throng the flood Are those to whom, by fate, are other bodies ow'd:

In Lethe's lake they long oblivion taste, Of future life secure, forgetful of the past.

Long has my soul desir'd this time and place, To set before your sight your glorious race, That this presaging joy may fire your mind To seek the shores by destiny design'd."-"O father, can it be, that souls sublime Return to visit our terrestrial clime, And that the gen'rous mind, releas'd by death, Can covet lazy limbs and mortal breath?"Anchises then, in order, thus begun To clear those wonders to his godlike son:

"Know, first, that heav'n, and earth's compacted frame, And flowing waters, and the starry flame, And both the radiant lights, one common soul Inspires and feeds, and animates the whole.

This active mind, infus'd thro' all the space, Unites and mingles with the mighty mass.

Hence men and beasts the breath of life obtain, And birds of air, and monsters of the main.

Th' ethereal vigor is in all the same, And every soul is fill'd with equal flame;As much as earthy limbs, and gross allay Of mortal members, subject to decay, Blunt not the beams of heav'n and edge of day.

From this coarse mixture of terrestrial parts, Desire and fear by turns possess their hearts, And grief, and joy; nor can the groveling mind, In the dark dungeon of the limbs confin'd, Assert the native skies, or own its heav'nly kind:

Nor death itself can wholly wash their stains;But long-contracted filth ev'n in the soul remains.

The relics of inveterate vice they wear, And spots of sin obscene in ev'ry face appear.

For this are various penances enjoin'd;

And some are hung to bleach upon the wind, Some plung'd in waters, others purg'd in fires, Till all the dregs are drain'd, and all the rust expires.

All have their manes, and those manes bear:

The few, so cleans'd, to these abodes repair, And breathe, in ample fields, the soft Elysian air.

Then are they happy, when by length of time The scurf is worn away of each committed crime;No speck is left of their habitual stains, But the pure ether of the soul remains.

But, when a thousand rolling years are past, (So long their punishments and penance last,)Whole droves of minds are, by the driving god, Compell'd to drink the deep Lethaean flood, In large forgetful draughts to steep the cares Of their past labors, and their irksome years, That, unrememb'ring of its former pain, The soul may suffer mortal flesh again."Thus having said, the father spirit leads The priestess and his son thro' swarms of shades, And takes a rising ground, from thence to see The long procession of his progeny.

"Survey," pursued the sire, "this airy throng, As, offer'd to thy view, they pass along.

These are th' Italian names, which fate will join With ours, and graff upon the Trojan line.

Observe the youth who first appears in sight, And holds the nearest station to the light, Already seems to snuff the vital air, And leans just forward, on a shining spear:

Silvius is he, thy last-begotten race, But first in order sent, to fill thy place;An Alban name, but mix'd with Dardan blood, Born in the covert of a shady wood:

Him fair Lavinia, thy surviving wife, Shall breed in groves, to lead a solitary life.

In Alba he shall fix his royal seat, And, born a king, a race of kings beget.

Then Procas, honor of the Trojan name, Capys, and Numitor, of endless fame.

A second Silvius after these appears;

Silvius Aeneas, for thy name he bears;

For arms and justice equally renown'd, Who, late restor'd, in Alba shall be crown'd.

How great they look! how vig'rously they wield Their weighty lances, and sustain the shield!

But they, who crown'd with oaken wreaths appear, Shall Gabian walls and strong Fidena rear;Nomentum, Bola, with Pometia, found;

And raise Collatian tow'rs on rocky ground.

All these shall then be towns of mighty fame, Tho' now they lie obscure, and lands without a name.

See Romulus the great, born to restore The crown that once his injur'd grandsire wore.

This prince a priestess of your blood shall bear, And like his sire in arms he shall appear.

Two rising crests, his royal head adorn;

Born from a god, himself to godhead born:

His sire already signs him for the skies, And marks the seat amidst the deities.

Auspicious chief! thy race, in times to come, Shall spread the conquests of imperial Rome-Rome, whose ascending tow'rs shall heav'n invade, Involving earth and ocean in her shade;High as the Mother of the Gods in place, And proud, like her, of an immortal race.

Then, when in pomp she makes the Phrygian round, With golden turrets on her temples crown'd;A hundred gods her sweeping train supply;Her offspring all, and all command the sky.

"Now fix your sight, and stand intent, to see Your Roman race, and Julian progeny.

The mighty Caesar waits his vital hour, Impatient for the world, and grasps his promis'd pow'r.